The Persecution Of The Letter To The Hebrews

The issue between the Gospel of Matthew and Judaism is a convoluted one. The picture that emerges when talking about whether Jesus’s teaching is anti-Semitic or not becomes ambivalent and it is not easy to interpret, as Coogan has pointed out, “Matthew functions as a bridge between the two Testaments . . .”(Coogan, 1746). In the context of Jewish-Christian dialogue, the fundamental question is how much of Judaism’s principles and practices ascribed to Jesus are preserved from traditional Judaism? As much as Matthew’s Gospel has been considered to be an extremely anti-Semitic, especially in the Christian realm, there remains substantial evidence indicating how Jesus, as presented by Matthew, had preserved the quintessence of Judaism.

In the New Testament, a letter is correspondence written for a particular occasion to address

Every religious group has suffered a time when their religion was not considered to be popular or right. Out of all of these religious groups that have suffered, no one group has suffered so much as that of the Jewish religion. They have been exiled from almost every country that they have ever inhabited, beginning with Israel, and leading all the was up to Germany, France, Spain, England, and Russia. Not only have they been exiled but also they have suffered through torture, punishment, and murder. Thus, because of the history of the religion, the Jewish people have become a very resilient people. They have survived thousands of years carrying their religion with them from one country to

“The experience of the Jewish families in the United States over the last century has been one of acculturation and accommodation to the norms and the values of the American society.” (“Jewish American Family” 2). At the same time, Anti-Semitism in America reached its peak during the interwar period between the 1940s and 1960s. The self-hating Jew appeared as a phenomenon of the Depression and the 1940s. At that time, almost all of the Jewish American writers simply presented realistic portrayals of their fellow immigrants or their parents’ generation. Later, some other Americans, partial to Anti-Semitism, found confirmation of negative stereotypes in the new Jewish American Literature. Indeed, some parent-hating or self-hating Jewish American writers of the second or the third generation consciously reinforced negative stereotypes with satire and a selective realism. Philip Roth, whose portrayal of the tensions between these figures borders on self-hatred and an almost Anti-Semitic view of the Jewish family in America, is a great example of this phenomenon. In his book, Portnoy’s Complaint, Roth touched on the assimilation experiences of American Jews, their relationship to Israeli Jews, and his experience as inherent in being the son of a Jewish family which led him to be self-hating Jew to escape from the harsh reality.

Gideon was condemned to five years in a Florida state prison. Subsequently, Gideon began studying law, in the prison library, which led to him believing that his entitlements were disregarded when he was deprived of his request. From his prison cell, he filed a habeas corpus petition in the Florida Supreme Court. He requested to be liberated since he was illegally incarcerated. His petition was refused but that did not hinder Gideon’s battle for freedom. He composed an additional petition, to the Supreme Court of the United States, requesting to plead his situation. He proclaimed that the trail court’s verdict violated his constitutional right and his rights ensured under the Bill of Rights. The Court unanimously pronounced in Gideon’s favor,

Having identified this problem, the Hebrew letter was an attempt to solve this problem. By reminding these “babes” of these basic doctrines of the church of Christ, he hoped to be able to move on to discuss greater things. It remains to be seen whether this will actually solve the problem.

Therefore, one question remains: how does one endure suffering? How does the author of Hebrews expect a community, which has been ridiculed and rejected to the point they are tempted to abandon Christ, to endure suffering? The author claims that faith is the means by which the community will endure. The author spends the last section of the book of Hebrews (10:32-13:25) exhorting the readers to remain steadfast and faithful amidst their suffering (Thompson 200). A powerful rhetoric occurs in chapter 11 of Hebrews, as the author uses examples of faith and endurance to urge the audience towards faithfulness, beginning with the statement: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1), and thus setting the stage for an exposition depicting people, whom throughout history, remained faithful to God without seeing a world in subjection to Him. F.F. Bruce states that the people listed, in what is often referred to as the

Levine’s book titled The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus proves to be a highly informative resource when trying to understand the intricate relationship between Christianity and Judaism. Levine’s primary objective seems to be a desire to address the idea that there is a vast, irreconcilable disparity between the beliefs and practices of Christians and Jews. Levine’s central argument focuses upon a common misperception of this dissimilarity: it is the result of Jesus being in direct opposition to Judaism. Furthermore, she contends that only a decided openness and interfaith dialogue between Christianity and Judaism can truly provide the most complete and compelling portrait of Jesus’s life and work. To me, the most edifying facet of Levine’s argument was her call to anchor Jesus within the historical and cultural context in which he was teaching in order to best understand his work and his message. Levine not only provides support for this idea throughout The Misunderstood Jew, but near the end of the novel also offers up ways in which both Christians and Jews can reconcile these two ostensibly conflicting perceptions of Jesus. Therefore, in this essay, I will analyze Levine’s arguments regarding the importance of historical/cultural context in Chapter One and Chapter Four while synthesizing it with her solutions presented in Chapter Seven.

Despite 2,000 years of continuous residence, Europe’s Jews were rarely given complete citizenship status in their own countries. Their social and religious distinctiveness made them persistent targets for economic, social and personal persecution. The increased participation of the Jews in the economic and social life of 19th and 20th century industrial Europe intensified anti-Semitism. The Nazi policy of racial hatred amplified and manipulated these patterns of persecution, ultimately adding one deadly tenet that all Jews must be eliminated.

There were different reasons for other people persecuted but in my case it was my religion.

Throughout history the Jewish people have undertaken a great deal of enslavement. They were first enslaved by the Egyptians than later enslaved by the Germans. Their enslavement has defined their identity. One can dispute the Jews would not be in existence if they were not enslaved. From the article, The Sacrifice of Daniel, on the Believer, author Josh Kun disputes, “there is no Jewish identity if the Jew is loved.” (Kun p. 369). The Jewish identity is rooted in a passive identity with a need to be detested by superior identities. This shows the Jewish sexual identity has a lack of masculinity.

While religion has the power to draw people together, it can also tear people apart. Throughout history, the Jewish nation has been plagued by persecution as a result of their religion. In Medieval times, the Jews faced blood libels and crusades. If they were to convert, then they would become accepted members into society; however, if they were to remain true to their religious ideals they would be killed. In modern Europe, Jews faced struggles such as Emancipation and the Holocaust. All they wanted was to become accepted in society; however instead they were mistreated and eventually massacred. This all leads up to Jewish life in America, something drastically different than the pattern that has remained constant for centuries. Through

Studying the Old Testament is not as straightforward as some may think. Being able to recall stories of the Bible does not necessarily mean you have a thorough grasp on the history of Israel and the surrounding nations. Some people read and discuss the Bible without a solid understanding of the history and social issues that were going on at the time. Being able to relate to the stories in the Bible and struggle with some of the same problems faced by the people in the Bible gives you a greater appreciation for the works in the Bible. I feel that having a firm understanding of all the related history of Israel gives a student of the Old Testament a far greater understanding of why these stories are in the Bible and what was meant to

Anti-semitic is a term that commonly refers to those people that discriminate against Jews or are hostile and prejudice towards them (www.dictionary.com). Throughout history, there have been many reasons given in an attempt to describe why there has been such a long-standing persecution of Jewish people. There are many people that dislike Jewish people because they blame them for the death of Jesus Christ. `Despite major improvements in theology and institutional responses to the Holocaust, Christian antisemitism continues to be a persistent and pervasive problem` (www.quora.com). According to my internet source, many people dislike Jews because of the opinion that they are too wealthy and powerful (Quora.com). There are

Fisher starts out by giving a saying from Pope Pius XI that states that we are all decedents of Abraham, which makes us all Semites, therefore there cannot be any Anti-Semitic theme to the New Testament. He also gives a brief history on the plane to extinguish the Myths of Anti-Semitic themes in the New Testament by creating the Second Vatican Council. While Fisher continues he give examples in history that show a lack of Anti-Semitic aspects of the Christian Faith such as Christians who saved Jews from death during the crusades. He also gives similarities between the teachings of Jesus and the teachings of the Pharisees. Fisher also points out that one cannot properly read the New Testament without the contexts of time and place. He also shows